At the fifth meeting of the National Commission on New Technological Uses of Copyrighted Works (CONTU) the Information Industries Association sponsored a presentation on copyright issues related to data bases, computer programs, and microform composition. Presentations were made by representatives of Standard and Poors, the New York Times, IBM, and Research Publications. The report on the New York Times Information Bank went into specific details about copyright problems--especially fair use (what kind and how much is unfair?). Other questions raised were: (1) When does a compilation of facts become a copyrightable item? (2) How can investments in data bases be protected? and (3) Who is the "author" of data base output? Other reports covered the influence of future technological developments, relevant projects at the National Science Foundation, and the status of copyright legislation in Congress. (LS)

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